“Most commentaries to date on library use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter have focused on a handful of well-funded public libraries with high-profile employees. Now Walt Crawford’s “Successful Social Networking in Public Libraries,” published by ALA Editions, completes the picture, offering for the first time an in-depth look at how a large variety of public libraries are conducting digital outreach and marketing through social networking.” (via American Library Association)

The Portland Press Herald – “Over the next two weeks, Portland’s school district will install filtering software on laptops issued to high school students, in order to block access to pornography, social networking sites and video streaming sites when the laptops are at home.Access to those sites is blocked now only at school, through the school network. The current filter doesn’t work when laptops are off school property.”

Mediabistro – “Pubslush is a new social networking site for readers and writers. It works is like a combination of free sample chapters and Kickstarter for books — readers can sample a chapter of a book and if they want to purchase it, they can “fund” the project. The project only gets published, if it meets a minimum funding requirement (like Kickstarter, donors aren’t charged until the project is funded).”

ebookNewser – “Twitter is a buzz Sunday night with the news that Amazon had added social networking features to the Kindle support site at kindle.amazon.com. Kindle users can now create a profile page, follow other Kindle users, share details about their reading habits, and so on. I’m not sure that this qualifies as news, other than the fact it happened so quietly. The new features appear to have been launched quite some time ago; there are some users with hundreds if not thousands of followers.”

NYTimes.com – “Outside of a book club, reading a book is a pretty solitary affair. Two entrepreneurs, Jason Johnson and Jason Illian, are trying to change that with a new mobile application called Social Books.“Short-form content on the Web is very interactive, very dynamic,” Mr. Johnson said. “You can see which of your friends read the same article and what they thought of it. It made us ask, ‘Can this be applied to long-form content? Can we take the advent of social media and apply it to the way we read books on tablets?’”

AP – “The Feds are on Facebook. And MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter, too. U.S. law enforcement agents are following the rest of the Internet world into popular social-networking services, going undercover with false online profiles to communicate with suspects and gather private information, according to an internal Justice Department document that offers a tantalizing glimpse of issues related to privacy and crime-fighting.”

Media Bistro – “[W]hat’s novel about Copia is the combination of eCommerce, eReaders, and social networking it offers. Consumers can buy eBooks, interact with friends, and manage content across various devices through the same platform. Plus, Copia is introducing six (six!) new eReaders to the market, which would be the last thing we need, if not for the interesting fact that all the social networking aspects are also accessible through the eReaders. Plus the Copia platform will be accessible through other devices, including iPad, iPhone, and as-yet-unannounced devices that will be exclusively powered by Copia.”

Biz Report – “Are you reading your local paper with a feeling of déjà vu? The feeling may not be a trick of the mind. According to a recent report, many newspaper reporters and editors are turning to social media for article ideas and research. The national survey, conducted by Don Bates with The George Washington University and Cision, nearly 90% of reporters use social media for research purposes.”

Pew – “Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.”